Vietnamese animated films shown in theaters this year: Success and failure

A scene from the movie “Trang Quynh nhi: Legend of the Taurus”. (Photo: Provided by the producer)

For the first time, two animated films were released in theaters.

This year, for the first time, cinema systems across the country have had two Vietnamese animated films released almost simultaneously, right when students start their summer vacation. They are “De Men – Adventure to the Swamp Village” and “Trang Quynh Nhi: The Legend of the Taurus”.

Talking about this event, poet and critic Phong Viet said that this is a very special point of this year's summer movie season. First of all, it is a happy and positive signal, and at the same time a boost for the animation market. Because in the industry, everyone understands that making animation is the most difficult - a genre that takes a lot of time, effort and creative energy from filmmakers.

Poet and critic Phong Viet also said that Vietnam had previously had a feature-length animated film shown in theaters called “Wolfoo”, and this film also had a copyright dispute with the film about Pepa the pig.

“However, we are still proud that, although there have not been any truly famous animated films in the world and the region, there have been two animated films confidently released in theaters, of which “De Men – Adventure to the Swamp Village” has also had a good revenue up to this point” – Poet and critic Phong Viet said.

Scene from the movie "Cricket - Adventure to the swampy village".

“De Men – Adventure to the Swamp Village” is adapted from the spirit of the famous literary work “The Adventures of a Cricket” by writer To Hoai, but the creative team has breathed a modern breath to suit the tastes of today's audiences, especially the young generation.

Instead of just adventuring through grasslands or jungles, Cricket Men and Cricket Trui set foot in a “Swampy Hamlet” – an area that used to be a lush green field, now turned into a garbage dump. Here, they meet many new species of insects such as Stick Beard, Baby Ladybug, and King Ech Com – the self-proclaimed “boss” of the hamlet. The two Cricket brothers must face many challenges, fierce battles from the dark plot of Ech Com to protect the peace of the insect community.

The film was produced entirely by a Vietnamese crew, with modern 3D animation technology, vivid character designs, eye-catching colors, and rich landscapes. The production crew spent more than three years to build the entire vivid insect world, delicately anthropomorphized while still maintaining the biological characteristics of each species.

The film "Cricket - Adventure to the swampy village" was completely produced.

Notably, this is the first Vietnamese film to be produced entirely at Digital Film Studio - a creative model linking CinePlus, Thai Nguyen province and Thai Nguyen University of Information Technology and Communications (ICTU), marking the first time in the country that a film has been produced by a team of lecturers, students and technology experts.

"Trang Quynh in his childhood: The Legend of Kim Nguu" is the first 3D animation project to be shown on the big screen in Vietnam. The film was directed by Meritorious Artist Trinh Lam Tung and his team of collaborators and is 90 minutes long.

The film is an adventure, fantasy, and comedy film, revolving around the silly adventures of Trang Quynh and his group of friends on their journey to achieve their own goals and save the world.

The story begins with the character Quynh "little" trying to clear his father's name, unintentionally pulling his friends into a journey of discovery to fight against hostile forces to realize the value of companions. The film has more than 150 characters, recreating the richness of Vietnamese culture and customs through the language of animation.

"Little Trang Quynh: Legend of the Taurus" is imbued with traditional Vietnamese culture.

The film has rich images and colors with many sparkling countryside scenes and majestic mountains and rivers; the artistic patterns and motifs on objects, costumes, and vehicles described in the film are meticulously done, detailed, and polished.

The road is not paved with roses

However, the theatrical path of the two films was completely different.

“De Men – Adventure to the Swamp Village” was communicated and promoted quite systematically, with images, clips, and excerpts posted quite a lot on social networks, attracting a lot of curiosity and interest from the audience. After nearly two months of being released in theaters, the cricket brought the production crew 21.1 billion VND, a significant number for a domestic animated film.

Meanwhile, "Trang Quynh in his childhood: The Legend of the Taurus" was not so lucky. Director, Meritorious Artist Trinh Lam Tung is a person who is extremely passionate about animation. But he can only focus on his career and cannot also take on the promotion and communication for the film. At the time "Trang Quynh" was released, it was difficult to find information related to the film such as the place of screening, screening time... like other films showing in theaters at that time.

As a result, the film only stayed in theaters for a mere month, failed to reach a large audience, and earned just over 3.2 billion VND. This is extremely regrettable because the director, Meritorious Artist Trinh Lam Tung, put a lot of heart and effort into this project, and the film itself received positive feedback from the audience.

Commenting on “Trang Quynh”, poet and critic Phong Viet said that this was a pity, because in his opinion, this film was somewhat better than “De Men” but the film did not have the expected revenue.

“Here, we must clearly distinguish that a movie with good revenue is not necessarily a good movie, and a good movie is not necessarily successful in terms of revenue at the theater” – Critic Phong Viet analyzed.

The unfortunate thing here is that, clearly, a good film like Trang Quynh, if it could reach a wider audience, have more screenings, and have better revenue, would be the motivation for filmmakers and also the motivation for audiences to see that Vietnam is also completely capable of making good animated films, worthy of being supported by Vietnamese audiences in theaters like other foreign animated films that have had very high revenue in recent years.

Regarding the crew of the movie Trang Quynh, critic Phong Viet said that they might be sad and disappointed because the revenue was not as expected, but in cinema, the long run will tell the good horse. "A fall of Trang Quynh in terms of revenue cannot say anything, but I believe that with the dedication of Trinh Lam Tung, the crew and the producer behind the movie, one day they will create a movie that is both good quality and has high revenue while still stepping out into the world, like other movies" - critic Phong Viet affirmed.

Audiences and tastes in cinema are always unpredictable. Even the films that have continuously won big at the box office of Tran Thanh and Ly Hai also prove this. But "the long road will tell the good horse" as critic Phong Viet shared, the fact that Vietnamese animation has 2 films confidently released in cinemas this year has been the first bricks to build the foundation for the confidence and bravery of animators in this difficult and fiercely competitive context, especially those filmmakers who are passionate about their profession and put artistic quality first.

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Source: https://nhandan.vn/phim-hoat-hinh-viet-chieu-rap-nam-nay-thanh-cong-va-that-bai-post896657.html